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Who is Essjay? I would love to ID this guy. I think he's notable enough for his own biography.

He says that his username derives from his initials, S.J. That would suggest that his first and middle name, or first and surname, start with S and J. But it hasn't helped my search.

He's between 30 and 45, and teaches theology to undergrads and grads. He's a tenured professor. He says that he teaches at a private university in the northeastern U.S., but I have my doubts about this also.

He says he has these degrees: Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies (B.A.), Master of Arts in Religion (M.A.R.), Doctorate of Philosophy in Theology (Ph.D.), Doctorate in Canon Law (JCD)

I've searched on his degrees, and I've looked at religion-department faculty lists in the northeast by using this resource. No clues.

He keeps to himself, and has been a Wikipedian only since February, 2005. Previous email addresses are essjay-wiki AT hotmail.com and essjay AT pacbell.net (some doubt about the latter).

He specializes in Roman Catholicism, but is a liberal non-Catholic. He's an elder in the Disciples of Christ, a liberal Protestant denomination. He's probably had essays on social issues published in obscure, liberal religious publications within the past ten years.

He is gay, and his live-in partner is a lawyer named Robbie (username Robbie31). Essjay owns and operates http://countervandalism.org/wiki/VCN but the service provider registered the domain for him and I don't see any clues there.

He and his partner have a cat named Mia and a lab retriever named Ami. Years ago, Essjay was a cantor at the Cathedral of the Assumption in Louisville, Kentucky.

He keeps to himself. The recent New Yorker article mentions him. He had a wikiaddiction to the tune of 14 hours a day, and sometimes he brings his laptop to class so that he can play Wikipedia while his students are taking a quiz. He will not be going to Wikimania, and he told the reporter that he has never met another Wikipedian.

If I could get even an IP address for Essjay or Robbie31, it would narrow the search to perhaps several universities instead of dozens. That would be a big help.

Essjay is probably more powerful than SlimVirgin, because he doesn't piss off too many people, and he appears to have some technical chops that come in handy for vandal-fighting through the use of bots. But I think he needs to be outed -- he spends too much time on Wikipedia and I'm sure it's bad for his health and warps his mind.

No response from the priest. I presume that Ryan Jordan got off with a dozen Hail Marys. I did include a nice blowup of his alleged photo at the bottom of the fax to the priest, just in case his name isn't Ryan Jordan. But then, that may not be his picture either. If that's true, it would mean that Jimbo and Angela and Gil all established his real identity and then said, "Good boy, Essjay, The New Yorker bought it completely, even though your claims were outlandish. Now you should create another phony identity, and tone it down a bit. Your history should remain unbelievable, but just don't make it unbelievable in the direction of claiming expertise or authority that you don't possess. That's where it gets potentially difficult for Wikipedia."

The literary agent for Stacy Schiff said that they no longer represent her, but they would forward my email to her. I have to assume that Stacy is hiding from me, because I haven't heard from her. She is a guest columnist at The New York Times and writes pure drivel, in my opinion. My expectations that she should be upset at Essjay because she sees herself as a real reporter have been substantially reduced.

I got a response from a deputy editor at The New Yorker a week ago. She apologized for the lack of response to last month's email and fax, and said she would look into the matter. I've heard nothing since then.

There was some argument on Essjay's talk page on Wikipedia (now archived) over this. Essjay took a hard line, citing the need to protect his family from psychopaths and stalkers. I think there are a handful of admins who object to the fact that he endangered the reputation of Wikipedia by lying to The New Yorker, but apparently the people at Wikipedia who matter (i.e., the ones who allegedly had dinner with Essjay) don't really care much one way or the other.

There was some argument on Essjay's talk page on Wikipedia (now archived) over this. Essjay took a hard line, citing the need to protect his family from psychopaths and stalkers. I think there are a handful of admins who object to the fact that he endangered the reputation of Wikipedia by lying to The New Yorker, but apparently the people at Wikipedia who matter (i.e., the ones who allegedly had dinner with Essjay) don't really care much one way or the other.

This surprises you?

I would seriously ask a question (mostly because I'm too lazy to find the answer myself) about when all this misrepresentation started. If this ... misinformation has been the standard line since Essjay started editing, before he was either an admin or important, then I have to question his real motives.

Has he done anything controversial enough to get stalked? If he was in fear of psychopaths butchering his family over EDITS to a pile of Pokemon articles, sports stats, and garage bands, I question his sanity.

Is he living in an area with strong antigay bias? Was he not in the clear? Did he come out of the closet, or was worried what his church might thing? If he in a safe and secure environment from both loonies on wiki or people who object to his orientations, I question his veracity.

I do not assume people lie in good faith, so all that remains is my replacement for AGF, which is "Assume No Active Malice". What did he GAIN by misrepresnting himself?